Get Rid of Stale Cigarette Smoke Smell from House

Author: Ian C. Langtree - View Credentials
Published: 28 Mar 2014 - Updated: 20 Dec 2021

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

Information on how to eliminate stale pipe cigar and cigarette smoke odor inside the home.

Overview

Tobacco odor is notoriously difficult to get rid of under normal circumstances, and is nearly impossible to do quickly. Cigarette and cigar smoke penetrates furniture, carpets, walls, windows, painted surfaces, and just about every other nook and cranny in our homes.

Smoking in a home leaves a tar residue on everything in the home. The best way to get rid of the smell is to get rid of the tar residue. Scrub the walls and floor, wash the curtains, Febreze all your furniture, open the windows, and plug in a few air fresheners around the place to cover up any lingering odor.

The longer you can leave the windows open in a home or car infested with smoke odor the better, as the fresh air allows tar and resin particles to dissipate thereby cleansing the air of all the odors. Here are a few tricks that you can use to try to remove and cover up the offending odors.

Tips to Eliminate Cigarette and Cigar Smell

• Try sprinkling baking soda on the carpets to soak up the odor.
• Devise a system that pulls the smoky air outside of your home so it doesn't have time to set on your surroundings such as smoking in front of an extractor fan that is set to expel air from the room.
• To neutralize the smoke smell, place saucers of white vinegar around the room and near affected furniture. Charcoal or baking powder has a similar effect. Leave it in the room overnight or for several days, preferably with the room closed off. Then thoroughly air out the room again. Sprinkle the carpet with a mixture of 1 cup Borax and 2 cups cornmeal, wait an hour, and then vacuum.
• Indoor plants - NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America did a two year study that confirmed plants clean up to 87% of indoor pollutants.
• Get a large can of coffee and divide it up into small bowls or other open containers and place them throughout your house or apartment - place more where there is strong odor, and leave them out for about a week.
• An ozone generator will, apparently, get rid of any odor you can think of if it's left on long enough in a closed house or apartment.
• For a quick fix to a tobacco smell which is not too ingrained try placing a pot filled with water in your oven and put about five or six drops of vanilla essence into the water. Heat up the oven for awhile.
• If you like candles, use them and place them around the home as candles seem to take odors away, and if you like scented ones, even better.
• Peel an orange and leave the peels around the room. Orange peels tend to soak up the smoky bad smell and leave a citrus odor.
• Burn a bundle of sage or some cedar wood and allow the smoke linger as long as possible, this will help neutralize the stench.
• Washing the walls and ceilings is a good idea if nothing else has worked.
• Place a slice of white bread on a paper plate and soak with white vinegar. Place these in each room and open the windows.
• The most certain way to remove smoke odor is to begin systematically cleaning everything. You will want to remove all wall hangings, curtains, blinds and bedding to begin your de-smoke process. In severe cases, you may actually want to hire a service to come in and steam clean every conceivable fabric.
• Apply 2 coats of Kilz latex primer to the walls and ceilings, followed by a coat of good latex paint.
• Purchase a few ripe pineapples slice them in half, then set them out for 24 hours in the rooms with all the doors and windows sealed, they emit an acid that tends to neutralize odors.

Commercial Products to Get Rid of Cigarette and Cigar Smell

• Vamoose - A very effective at eliminating cigarette and all other tobacco odors. It has the ability to penetrate, seek out and react with the components of tobacco smoke (tar and nicotine) dissolving and converting them into gaseous molecules without causing any damage to fabrics, materials or hard surfaces.
• OdoBan - An odor eliminator and disinfectant, eliminates unpleasant odors, cleans, disinfects, sanitizes and deodorizes household surfaces while leaving a fresh scent. Use OdoBan to eliminate unpleasant odors including cigarette smoke in kitchens, bathrooms, on floors, walls, garbage areas, showers, upholstery, carpets, bedding and other household areas.
• Ozium air sanitizer - Keep the air in your home or work space clean and smelling fresh. Ozium does not cover up the odors associated with sewer, pets, cooking and smoking - it eliminates them! Ozium, the original air purifier, is a chemical agent that actually eliminates smoke and unpleasant odors and reduces airborne bacteria.
• Room Shocker - Stated to be the most effective odor eliminator available today, it's revolutionary new technology has no equal when it comes to eliminating odors of any type. RoomSHOCKER attacks many of the organic molecules in third-hand Smoke (3HS), oxidizing them and eliminating the gasses and odors that they emit.

Author Credentials: Ian C. Langtree is a writer, editor, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, which he established in 2004 as one of the longest-running independent resources for disability news and information. Over more than two decades, he has written and edited thousands of articles on disability rights, health, accessibility, and assistive technology. Drawing on a global perspective shaped by extensive travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed advocate of the Social Model of Disability, the framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that focuses on removing societal barriers rather than on individual impairments. His writing is grounded in that framework and in a lasting commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.